Automation & scripting
CLI tools, scheduled jobs, filesystem tasks, and glue scripts that save time.
How to Monitor USB Device Connections in Python
A Python utility that monitors USB device connections and disconnections by comparing output of the lsusb command at regular intervals.
import time
import subprocess
import os
def get_usb_devices():
"""Return list of currently connected USB devices (Linux)."""
try:
result = subprocess.run(['lsusb'], capture_output=True, text=True, check=True)
return result.stdout.strip().split('\n')
except (subprocess.CalledProcessError, F…How to Monitor Website Content Changes in Python
This script fetches a webpage's content, computes its SHA-256 hash, and compares it with the last stored hash to detect and alert on changes.
import time
import hashlib
import requests
from pathlib import Path
def fetch_content_hash(url: str) -> str:
response = requests.get(url, timeout=10)
response.raise_for_status()
return hashlib.sha256(response.text.encode()).hexdigest()
def monitor_website(url: str, check_interval: int = 60):
hash_fil…How to Ping Multiple Hosts in Parallel with Python ThreadPoolExecutor
A parallel host-pinging script using ThreadPoolExecutor and subprocess to check connectivity across multiple addresses concurrently.
import subprocess
from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
from pathlib import Path
HOSTS = [
"google.com",
"github.com",
"stackoverflow.com",
"nonexistent.invalid",
"localhost",
]
def ping_host(host: str) -> str:
"""Ping a single host and return a status string."""
result = subp…How to Run Tesseract OCR from Python with subprocess
This script uses Python's subprocess module to invoke the Tesseract OCR engine from the command line and return the extracted text.
import subprocess
def ocr_image(image_path):
command = ["tesseract", image_path, "stdout"]
result = subprocess.run(command, capture_output=True, text=True)
return result.stdout.strip()
if __name__ == "__main__":
# Stub: call the actual tesseract (must be installed)
text = ocr_image("sample.png")
…How to Scan Configuration Files for Security Issues in Python
Automatically scan configuration files for common security mistakes using regex rules in Python.
import re
import os
from pathlib import Path
SECURITY_RULES = [
(r'^#\s*INSECURE_', 'Insecure comment starts with # INSECURE_'),
(r'password\s*=\s*("|\\\')?[^"\\\'"\s]+("|\\\')?$', 'Hardcoded password'),
(r'debug\s*=\s*True', 'Debug mode enabled'),
(r'[Pp]ermit[Rr]ootLogin\s+yes', 'PermitRootLogin ena…How to Scan Open Ports on a Host with Python
A Python function that uses socket.connect_ex to check for open TCP ports on a given host within a range and returns a list of open ports.
import socket
def scan_ports(host, start_port, end_port):
open_ports = []
for port in range(start_port, end_port + 1):
sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
sock.settimeout(0.5)
result = sock.connect_ex((host, port))
if result == 0:
open_ports.app…How to Send an Email with smtplib and a Mock Server in Python
Send an email using smtplib and verify it with a local aiosmtpd mock SMTP server — perfect for testing without a real mail server.
import smtplib
from email.message import EmailMessage
import aiosmtpd.controller as controller
import threading
def handle_message(server, session, envelope):
print(f"Mock server received message:")
print(f"From: {envelope.mail_from}")
print(f"To: {envelope.rcpt_tos}")
print(f"Subject: {envelope.cont…How to Sync Two Directories in Python (rsync-like)
Mirror a source directory into a destination by copying new or changed files and deleting extras, similar to rsync.
import os
import shutil
import sys
from pathlib import Path
def sync_dirs(src: Path, dst: Path):
"""Mirror src into dst: copy new files, overwrite changed, delete extras."""
dst.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
for dst_entry in dst.rglob('*'):
rel = dst_entry.relative_to(dst)
src_entry =…How to Track GitHub Stars, Forks, and Watchers in Python
Automatically fetch and track stars, forks, and watchers for multiple GitHub repositories, saving snapshots locally as JSON files for historical analysis.
import os
import time
import json
import requests
from pathlib import Path
from datetime import datetime
REPOS = [
"psf/requests",
"python/cpython",
"pallets/flask",
]
DATA_DIR = Path("github_metrics")
def fetch_repo_stats(repo):
url = f"https://api.github.com/repos/{repo}"
resp = requests.get(ur…How to Validate SSL Certificates for Multiple Domains in Python
A Python utility that checks SSL certificate expiry dates for a list of domains using the standard library ssl and socket modules.
import ssl
import socket
from datetime import datetime
def check_ssl_certificate(hostname: str, port: int = 443) -> dict:
"""Validate SSL certificate for a given hostname."""
context = ssl.create_default_context()
with socket.create_connection((hostname, port), timeout=5) as sock:
with context.wra…How to apply Kubernetes YAML files from a folder in Python
Uses the Kubernetes Python client to apply all YAML manifests in a directory, with sorted processing and per-file error handling.
import os
import yaml
from kubernetes import client, config
from kubernetes.utils import create_from_yaml
def apply_yaml_folder(folder_path):
"""Apply all YAML files in a folder using the Kubernetes mock client."""
# Load mock configuration
config.load_kube_config()
k8s_client = client.ApiClient()
…How to check Python files for common coding mistakes
Walks a directory tree parsing each .py file with ast, reporting empty functions, bare try blocks, too many parameters, and empty classes.
import ast
import os
import sys
def check_file(filepath):
try:
with open(filepath) as f:
code = f.read()
tree = ast.parse(code, filename=filepath)
except SyntaxError as e:
print(f"{filepath}: SyntaxError: {e.msg}")
return
issues = []
for node in ast.wal…Mount ISO Loop Device Mock Script in Python
Simulate ISO mounting with a loop device using a mock class — useful for testing scripts that depend on mount/unmount without actual system privileges.
import os
import tempfile
from dataclasses import dataclass
from pathlib import Path
@dataclass
class LoopDevice:
path: str
iso_path: str
mounted: bool = False
def mount(self, mount_point: str):
if self.mounted:
raise RuntimeError(f"Loop device {self.path} already mounted")
…Python: Archive Old Logs by Compressing Gzip by Age
A Python script that finds .log files older than a specified age and compresses them into .gz archives while removing the originals.
import gzip
import os
import shutil
from pathlib import Path
def archive_logs(log_dir: str, max_age_days: int) -> list[str]:
"""Compress log files older than max_age_days into .gz archives.
Returns a list of compressed file paths.
"""
cutoff = time.time() - max_age_days * 86400
compressed = …Track File Changes with Version History in Python
A Python utility that monitors a file for changes, creating versioned backups with SHA-256 hashing to detect modifications and store a local JSON history.
import hashlib, json, os, shutil, time
from pathlib import Path
class FileTracker:
def __init__(self, history_file="file_history.json"):
self.history_file = Path(history_file)
self.history = self._load_history()
def _load_history(self):
if self.history_file.exists():
retur…Track Internet Connectivity and Downtime Automatically in Python
Monitors internet connectivity by pinging a remote host and logs any downtime events with timestamps and duration.
import time
import subprocess
from datetime import datetime
def check_internet(host="8.8.8.8", timeout=3):
"""Returns True if internet is reachable via ping."""
try:
subprocess.run(
["ping", "-c", "1", "-W", str(timeout), host],
capture_output=True,
timeout=timeout …Browse by section
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Automation & scripting — Python code examples
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